1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a novel system and method for collecting consumer-product related information and transmitting and delivering the same along the consumer-product supply and demand chain using the National Information Infrastructure (e.g. the Internet), and more particularly to a novel system and method for delivering consumer product related information to consumers within retail environments using Internet-based information servers and sales agents.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Dissemination of consumer-product information between manufacturers and their retail trading partners must be accurate and timely. The traditional methods of phone calls and faxes are time consuming and resource intensive. An electronic Universal Product Code (UPC) Catalog (i.e. database system), accessible 24 hours a day, is a solution. In 1988, QuickResponse Services (QRS), Inc. Of Richmond, Calif., introduced the first independent product information database, using the retail industry standard UPC numbering system. Today the QRSolutions.TM. Catalog contains information on over 44 million products from over 1500 manufacturers. The QRSolutions Catalog is a Window's based application providing a critical information flow link between the retailers and the manufacturers along the supply and demand chain.
After assigning a UPC number to each item, the manufacturer organizes and sends the data, via an electronic data interchange (i.e. EDI) transmission, or a tape, to QRS, Inc. to be loaded into the UPC Catalog database. Changes to the data can be made on a daily basis. Retailers with access to a manufacturer's data can view and download the data once it has been added or updated. Automatic update capabilities ensure the most recent UPC data will be in the EDI mailbox of each retailer customer quickly.
The effect of a centralized database such as QRS's UPC Catalog improves the flow of merchandise from the manufacturer to the retailer's selling floor and ultimately to the consumer. With the UPC Catalog, accurate, up-to-date product information is available when the retailer needs it, eliminating weeks from the order cycle time.
In addition to the electronic UPC-based product information subsystem (i.e. UPC Catalog) described above, a number of other information subsystems have been developed for the purpose of providing solutions to problems relating to electronic commerce merchandising and logistics within the global supply chain. Such ancillary information subsystems include, for example: Sales and Analysis and Forecasting Subsystems for producing and providing retailers with information about what products consumers are buying; Collaborative Replenishment Subsystems for determining what products retailer can be buying in order to satisfy consumer demand at any given point of time; and Transportation and Logistics Information Subsystems for producing and providing retailers with information about when products purchased by them (at wholesale) will be delivered to the their stores. Typically, such information subsystems are connected to various value added information networks in order to efficiently offer such information services to retailers on a global basis.
While the above-described information systems collectively cooperate to optimize the process of moving raw materials into finished products and into the hands of consumers, such information systems simply fail to address the information needs of the consumers of retail products who either require or desire product-related information prior to as well as after the purchase of consumer-products.
Presently, an enormous amount of time, money and effort is being expended by companies in order to advertise and sell their products and services, and after product purchase has taken place, to provide product related information, product warranty service and the like. For decades, various types of media have been used to realize such fundamental business functions.
In recent times, there has been a number of significant developments in connection with the global information network called the "Internet", which has greatly influenced many companies to create multimedia Internet Web-sites in order to advertise, sell and maintain their products and services. Examples of such developments include, for example: the World Wide Web (WWW) based on the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and the Hypertext Transmission Protocol (HTTP) by Tim Berners-Lee, et al.; easy to use GUI-based Internet navigation tools, such as the Netscape.RTM. browser from Netscape Communications, Inc., the Internet Explorer.TM. browser from MicroSoft Corporation and the Mosaic.TM. browser from Spyglass Corporation; and the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) by Mark Pecse. Such developments in recent times have made it very easy for businesses to create 2-D Hypermedia-based Home Pages and 3-D VR Worlds (i.e. 3-D Web-sites) for the purpose of projecting a desired "corporate image" and providing a backdrop for financial investment solicitation as well as product advertising, sales and maintenance operations.
Presently, a person desiring to acquire information about any particular product has a number of available search options. In particular, he or she may attempt to directly contact the manufacturer, wholesaler or reseller by telephone, US mail, e-mail, or through the company's World Wide Web-site (WWW), if they have one. In the event one decides to acquire product information through the seller's WWW site, he or she must first determine the location of its WWW site (i.e. Internet address) which oftentimes can involve using Internet Search engines such as Yahoo.RTM., AltaVista.TM., WebCrawler.TM., Lycos.TM., Excite.TM., or the like. This can be a very time consuming process and sometimes leads to a dead end. Once the Internet address is obtained, one must then review the home page of the company's Web-site in order to find where, if at all, information about a particular product resides on the Website. This search process can be both time consuming and expensive (in terms of Internet time) and may not turn up desired information on the product of interest.
In some instances, product brochures bear a preprinted Internet address designed to direct or point prospective customers to a particular Web-site where more detailed product information can be found. A recent example of this "preprinted Web Address" pointing technique is the 1996 product brochure published by the Sony Corporation for its Sony.RTM. PCV-70 Personal Computer, which refers prospective customers to the Sony Web Address "http://www.sony.com/pc". While this approach provides a direct way of finding product related information on the Internet, it is not without its shortcomings and drawbacks.
In particular, when a company improves, changes or modifies an existing Web-site which publishes product and/or service advertisements and related information, it is difficult (if not impossible) not to change the Internet locations (i.e. Web addresses) at which such product and/or service advertisements and related information appear. Whenever a company decides or is forced to change any of its advertising, marketing and/or public relations firms, there is a substantial likelihood that new Web-sites will be created and launched for particular products and services, and that the Web addresses of such new Web-sites will no longer correspond with the Web addresses on preprinted product brochures in currently circulation at the time. This can result in pointing a consumer to erroneous or vacant Web-sites, that present either old or otherwise outdated product and/or service information, possibly adversely influencing the consumer's purchasing decision.
Moreover, when a company launches a new Web-site as part of a new advertising and marketing campaign for a particular product, any preprinted advertising or marketing material relating to such products will not reflect the new Web-site addresses which the campaign is attempting to get consumers to visit. This fact about preprinted advertising media renders it difficult to unify new and old advertising media currently in circulation into an advertising and marketing campaign having a coherent theme. In short, the inherently static nature of the "preprinted Web address" pointing technique described above is wholly incapable of adjusting to the dynamic needs of advertising, marketing and public relations firms alike.
In addition to the above-described techniques, I-World by Mecklermedia has recently launched a commercial product finding database on the Internet called "Internet Shopper". Notably, the "Internet Shopper" database is organized by specific types of product categories covering computer and telecommunication related technologies. While this product information finding service may be of help to those looking to buy computer or communication equipment, it fails to provide an easy way to find information on previously purchased products, or on products outside of the field of communication or computer technology. Consequently, the value of this prior art technique is limited to those considering the purchase of products catalogued within the taxonomy of the "Internet Shopper" directory.
In view of the inherent limitations of I-World's "Internet Shopper" and other product finding directories on the Internet, such as "NetBuyer" by Computer Shopper (at "http://www.netbuyer.com"), the National Information Infrastructure Testbed (NIIT) organization has recently formed a "confidential committee of NIIT members" under the title "Universal Product and Service Code Project". The stated problem addressed by this Project is how to locate specific goods and services on the Internet, and compare prices and other critical market information. As publicized in a NIIT Project Abstract, the "Universal Product and Service Code Project" seeks to make it easier to electronically locate goods and services on the Internet using universal product and services identifiers and locators. As stated in the Project Abstract, the "NIIT believes that changing the way in which Internet information is organized is fundamental to solving this problem. In the Universal Product and Service Code Project, NIIT members are currently exploring how coding structures can help organize information about products accessible using the Internet. NIIT's goal is to inform the development of formalized coding standards that can be used nationally and internationally so that users can locate goods and services through simple searching and browsing methods. In turn, more advanced features, such as comparison shopping, can be added as "intelligent agent" software programs are refined to enable users to search and retrieve products linked to these structures."
While the NIIT's Universal Product and Service Code Project seeks ways of locating specific goods and services on the Internet, all proposals therefor recommend the development of formalized coding standards and searching and browsing methods which are expensive and difficult to develop and implement on a world-wide basis. Moreover, such sought after methods will be virtually useless to consumers who have already purchased products and now seek product related information on the Internet.
In summary, prior art "demand chain management systems" have provided: (i) procurement services consisting of UPC Catalogs accessible through the Internet and EDI networks; (ii) inventory management services consisting of replenishment, sales analysis and forecasting services; and (iii) distribution management services consisting of EDI and logistics management services. However, prior art "demand chain management systems" have fail to address the information needs of the consumers of retail products who either require or desire product-related information prior to `as well as after` the purchase of consumer-products. Consequently, prior art demand chain management systems operate in an open-loop mode with a "break" in information flow cycle, disabling the manufacturers from communicating with the consumers in an efficient manner to satisfy consumer needs.
Thus, it is clear that there is great need in the art for an improved system and method for collecting product related information and transmitting and delivering the same between the manufacturers and retailers of products to the consumers thereof in various environments, while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of prior art systems and methodologies.